The judiciary must ensure that those whose guilt is proved beyond all doubt are handed deterrent punishment so that this evil of perversion is stopped
Attacks against women across India have not abated even as legislators are busy squabbling over the fine print in a new law, particularly on whether the age for consensual sex should be 16 or 18.
While the keenness of all those who have been awakened by the severity of crimes against women should be appreciated, what is worrying is the reluctance of those in authority to appreciate the seriousness of crimes still taking place. A Swiss tourist’s gangrape in Madhya Pradesh is the latest in an unacceptable series of assaults on women, with this outrage more than likely to dent the nation’s image as a safe tourist destination. With attacks on women across India getting wider play across the international media, it’s even more important for the state machinery to move rapidly in all such cases to send out the message that such crimes will not be tolerated and invite swift punishment.
The devil may be in the details, but that should be tackled at the legislative level as a model law is being framed in Parliament. The executive should act in an exemplary manner rather than offer crass comments, such as that by Madhya Pradesh’s home minister, no less, who seemed to imply that the victim’s conduct was questionable to some extent. That is unacceptable. The judiciary, on its part, must ensure that those whose guilt is proved beyond all doubt are handed deterrent punishment so that this evil of perversion is stopped.
Only concerted action by all sections of society can spread the message of “zero tolerance”. The quick action on the anti-rape law may have been triggered by the nationwide outrage following the December 16 outrage in New Delhi. Society as a whole reacted with a sense of horror that shook the entire nation. But nevertheless, the large number of such cases which have been reported since then seem to point to a malaise that is so deep-rooted that this message of “zero tolerance” has obviously not yet trickled down.
While society at large must wake up to the need to weed out the chances of rape or sexual assault by people close to victims, including their immediate families, the administration and the political class should also feel ashamed that such incidents can still take place in public spaces. A nationwide movement involving wide sections of society is vitally needed lest these insidious incidents scar us as a people, and debunk our claims of having been evolved out of an ancient civilisation.
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